This Gideon Crew book while having all the machinations of the Preston Child thriller, falls short of expectations. I guess you could attribute it to the monotony of such series with a predictable plot line. For loyal fans there is something to look forward to but new readers would benefit from starting with the first book.

This was bit of a slow burn for me but I really enjoyed it! The characters were well written and the plot kept me on my toes!

The Pharaoh Key is book 5# in the Gideon Crew series by the team of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child and here is hoping that this one is bringing the series to an end and maybe that terminal illness that is the ticking time clock in Gideon's head will put this character to bed once and for all. Harsh perhaps, but I'm only honest because I love you guys.

"...That's as good a summary as I could have made.' Dr. Conrad propped his palms on the edge of his desk and interlaced his fingers. 'When you first learned of your AVM,' he asked, 'did the doctor give you a prognosis on how long you might expect to live?'
'Yes.'
'And how long was that?'
'About a year.'
'When was that?'
'Almost ten months ago.'
'I see.' The doctor shuffled through the images on his desk, cleared his throat again. 'I'm very sorry to have to tell you, Gideon, but from these tests and everything else I've seen, the original prognosis was correct..."

Eli Glinn has just shut down Effective Engineering Solutions and closed the doors without explanation, casting out Gideon Crew and Manuel Garza who have both served Glinn fervently in the last year. They are told they just have a few hours to collect their gear and then they will be escorted off the premises. After risking their lives repeatedly for Glinn, Crew and Garza fell betrayed and leave with one thing in hand. A secret that Glinn has been searching years for. An ancient code that had been uploaded into EES's computers long ago and now, at this moment, it has been cracked. Crew and Garza decide they are taking this with them, pay for years of dedicated service. It seems to hint at incredible treasures but what exactly they don't know. But with the code, they think they know where.

"...Egypt.' Taking the keyboard, Gideon opened a new window on the computer and called up Wikipedia. 'The Hala'ib Triangle seems to be a twenty thousand square kilometer region claimed by both Egypt and Sudan. Zero annual rainfall, zero population, zero life, heavily broken country of rugged mountains, sand dunes, and dry washes. It says here that it's one of the most extreme desert environments in the world.' He stepped back. 'Zoom in to the valley.'
Garza complied, creating a split-screen image showing the Phaistos map on one side and the Google Earth image on the other, both at the same scale.
'Could there be a more desolate place on earth?' Gideon asked..."

Gideon and Garza embark on an adventure with very little knowledge of what awaits them, only sure in the knowledge that if Glinn finds out what they have stolen he will be hot on their trail. But Egypt is a big country with its own perils and soon Gideon and Garza find their lives in danger from the very secrets they hope to unlock.

Okay, why this doesn't work for me and for a large part, its because I have read these two authors diligently and love most of their work. The research and the drama and tension that fill a novel by Preston and Child is unlike any other you will find. But the Pharoah Key has not of it.

The story is predictable on various levels. The duo are robbed by locals and left to die. A beautiful Egyptologist tags along for the ride and the romantic/sexual tension between her and Gideon is almost like something out of an old movie. Only not nearly as good. The ancient tribe they find secluded in the desert, they somehow figure out how to communicate with and amaze with their modern technology. Eventually taking the tribe over. How this is not somewhat offensive to every culture that has had their culture torn apart by this type of behavior down throughout history. Aztecs and Mayans and even Egyptians who have had to fight to get their own artifacts back from explorers that take them back to London or New York.

What bothers me the most in this one is that there really is a good tale hidden down here. Pieces of the origin of the one God theology and the connection between an ancient Pharaoh and the tale of Moses. Something that might have made this one interesting.

Honestly there was a point in the reading of this book that I literally thought that it was a book written by an author who was trying to write a Preston and Child novel. Only failing at it miserably.

Sorry not a very good read at all. It is past time to put Gideon Crew on the shelf.

Review featured at www.books-n-kisses.com

Oh how I enjoy these authors. Any Preston/Child book is worth picking up. These books always keep me enraptured.

If you are a fan of movies like National Treasure or books by Brad Meltzer you will enjoy this series.

Gideon is a great character. Garza is really cool too.

You will be on the edge of your seat figuring out this secret.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Filled with wild tales, lots of adventure, and plenty of fun. Great read! This is another winning venture from this pair of writers.

This is the fifth installment in the Gideon Crew series and somehow I missed that little tidbit. There was just enough alluding to previous books that I felt I was missing out. But once Gideon and Garza got on the road it was much more enjoyable for me. I do enjoy their Pendergast series better. However, I 'will be going back and catching books 3 & 4 to see what I missed.

4 stars!



Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have long been favorites of mine. Whether writing together or individually, they never fail to deliver a quality thriller. I jumped at the chance to read their latest collaborative novel, The Pharaoh Key, when I got a review copy. Since I’ve been a fan since their first book, I was certain that this novel would not disappoint.



Gideon Crew was shocked when he got the message that Effective Engineering Solutions was closing. Even worse, he only had two hours to clear out any of his belongings from the company’s building or lose them forever. Destiny, however, can strike at any moment. As Gideon and his friend, Manuel Garza, clear out their belongings, a computer that has been running a program to translate an ancient tablet, the Phaistos Disc, goes off signaling that it has completed its task. This was their chance to gain the riches that the tablet’s secrets could reveal while getting revenge on their former employer. It was theirs for the taking if it did not kill them first.



The Phaistos Disc comes from an ancient civilization about with almost nothing was known. In fact, no one even knew the origins of the disc. The translation hints at the origin of the disc and at great treasures that await those who unravel its secrets. The two friends take off on an adventure that will take them halfway across the world in search of ancient treasure and knowledge that may predate the ancient Egyptian empire. Unfortunately, the quest will not be an easy one and it is all too possible that it may claim their lives before they reach their final destination.



Lincoln and Child had their first hit character with Special Agent Pendergast. The duo has come up with another strong character in Gideon Crew. While there is some concern as to how long this character will be around (no spoilers, just read the books), it is easy to slip into his world of adventure and live in the moment through him. Once the setup is complete and the two men start their journey, there is almost no time wasted before the action kicks in. The men travel to the far corners of the world to find their destination and the promises of riches that it holds with danger and death nipping at their heals the entire way. Picking up an attractive friend along the way, the two men must live through capture by a primitive tribe in order to overcome the outside world and become worthy of their objective. Preston and Child keep the novel moving throughout and the reader is taken on a ride that will not soon be forgotten.



Even though there is a lot of action in the novel, the authors handle it with a deft hand and ensure there is plenty of substance to the story as well. Preston and Child dig deep into the mythology behind the hidden city to give the reader a true sense of the ancient civilization. The book is a fusion of an action novel and an archaeological study of a fictional society rooted in fact which gives the story more gravitas than it would have had without that depth. Preston and Child have found a powerful new hero, actually a duo, that brings the world of adventure to life and allows the reader to be completely immersed in the story. Fans of the authors will once more be thrilled by the story and new readers alike will be captivated as well (although I would recommend starting the series at the beginning). Preston and Child have crafted another superior thriller that once again leave the reader eager to see what will come next.



I would like to thank Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for this review copy. The Pharaoh Key is available now.

Published by Grand Central Publishing on June 12, 2018

Gideon Crew, for reasons explained in earlier books in this series, has only two months to live. Gideon and his co-workers are fired from their operative-adventurer gigs for reasons that also relate to earlier books. Gideon is cleaning out his desk with co-worker Garza when a computer pings with the solution to a decoding problem it’s been working on for five years. After futzing around to figure out what the solution means, Gideon and Garza head to the Hala’ib Triangle in Egypt, one of the world’s most desolate spots, where the secret of the Phaistos Disk is hidden.

To get to the world’s most desolate spot, Gideon and Garza share camels with a British woman who may or may not be the geologist/anthropologist that she claims to be. The story then lurches from one adventure to another, as our dynamic duo plus one deal with water shortages, sandstorms, captivity, trials by fire, fistfights, knife fights, gun fights, tigers, fights with tigers, and other ordeals (including a tribal custom that involving wedding a teen virgin, which might not be an ordeal but isn’t on Garza’s bucket list).

There is a certain familiarity/predictability to the storyline. Preston and Child mention H. Rider Haggard, perhaps as a hat-tip for Haggard’s pioneering work in the Lost World genre, from which The Pharaoh Key heavily borrows. The novel is also like an Indiana Jones movie without the special effects: life-threatening situation, followed by narrow escape, followed by another life-threatening situation, followed by another narrow escape, and so on. The life-threatening situations give Gideon multiple opportunities to fret that he expected to die soon but not in quite the way he anticipates dying before the next narrow escape comes along, sparing him until a new threat causes him to fret about the way he is about to die.

The plot is like popcorn; each kernel is tasty but eating to the bottom of the bag isn’t filling or nutritious, in part because Preston and Child fail to bring much imagination to the pattern in which they plow the ground. The ending is not nearly as surprising as the authors intended; it seemed to be to the most likely outcome.

I did, however, like the way Preston and Child used the theoretical link between Pharaoh Akhenaten (one of the first adherents of a monotheistic religion) and Moses, who may have been inspired by Akhenaten to champion Israelite monotheism. And while the adventure story is ordinary, it does have entertaining moments. I can’t recommend The Pharaoh Key with enthusiasm, but Preston and Child fans will want to read it just to find out what happens next in the adventurous life of Gideon Crew.

RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS

The Pharoah Key is the 5th (and final?) book in the Gideon Crew series.

If you’ve read my review of Beyond the Ice Limit, you know that as much as I love Preston & Child, I’m not really a huge Gideon Crew fan. I couldn’t resist the chance to read a newly released Preston & Child novel though, so I requested my copy through Netgalley and decided to give it a shot.

What I got was a decent, if slightly bland, adventure story. Garza and Gideon team up for one last adventure before Gideon heads back to his cabin in the mountains to await the inevitable. (If you’ve read any of the series you will know that Gideon suffers from a life-threatening medical condition.) The hope is partly to make themselves rich so they can live out their lives in comfort, and partly to get back at Eli Glynn, who has dismissed them and dissolved EES with no warning.

There are foes and friends both to be found along the way as they begin their search for what they believe will be a great treasure. There is enough action to keep the story moving along, and enough exotic locations and situations to keep you intrigued and reading to the end. It finishes up with just enough of a resolution for each main character’s story-line to satisfy most Gideon Crew fans. While missing the excitement of the Pendergast novels, this is not a bad story and a decent conclusion to the series.

I was very excited to read another book about Gideon Crew and this adventures. The story again brings Gideon from his safe house in New Mexico to the steps of EES and Eli Glinn. This time though it wasn’t Eli who was persuading Gideon out but rather Eli’s disgruntled engineer Gaza. They travel the world again undercover as not to rouse suspicion from anyone especially Eli Glinn about their adventure for riches. These riches being final payment for work rendered to EES by both of them but as of yet still unpaid. Getting to the promised land proves to be more than they expected. Finally the team is confronted with what appears to be a lost village whose inhabitants don’t take to kindly to newcomers. A lot goes on in the book at the village. Normally, I would not mind this additional step on the story’s journey but the amount of time spent here seemed a bit much. It works and is necessary for the ending but I still thought the authors spent too much time in this part of the story and not enough describing what they found in the valley. The story’s ending was somewhat climatic but ultimately somewhat of a let down given the secondary story of discovery which developed once the team was inside the vault. The book ends with a lot of unknowns which does setup for another book but as far as Gideon Crew his time appears to be up for these types of adventure along with his life. We are not left with much for the character do except wait for the anticipated eventual end. Barring some strange almost soap opera twist we may have seen the last of Gideon. I think it would have been better to let him go in a moment of triumph or at the final fight. Either way would have been more satisfying but the author’s approach still it leaves hope that our friend Gideon will make it to one more story. Perhaps he might still live long enough to pass on his mantle to another character perhaps a cross over could be in the works to have him meet my other favorite chapter from Douglas Preston, Wyman Ford. Perhaps they could team up for one mega story to come.

The Pharaoh Key by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child is a highly recommended final novel and fitting ending (?) to the Gideon Crew series.

Gideon Crew has a brain arteriovenous malformation or AVM, and has about two months left to live, however, he will remain strong and mobile right until the end so the doctor's advice is for him to live every minute the best way he can. He and his engineer colleague Manuel Garza have also discovered, after not being paid for months and no word of warning from their employer Eli Glinn that they no longer have a job with Effective Engineering Solutions, EES. Garza calls Crew telling him that they have a few hours to clear their belongings out of the office.

While gathering what they can, they discover that a code-breaking computer at EES, after working on it for almost five years, has cracked the code found on the centuries-old stone tablet, the Phaistos Disc. With some sleight of hand, the two smuggle out a copy of the findings on a flash drive. The two work on deciphering the data and agree to split the treasure they expect to find. Their destination is the remote and forbidden zone of the Hala’ib Triangle in southeastern Egypt. The treasure hunt involves one mishap and disaster after another, but still Crew and Garza keep pressing on to the remote location.

The Pharaoh Key is a fast paced, enjoyable action/adventure novel that involves more than one unexpected twist. Although reading the previous novels will give you additional background information and character development, I think you can enjoy this one as a stand-alone for the sheer value of the escapism and adventure it will provide. Are there some unanswered questions? Sure. Lucky coincidences? Yup. Miraculous escapes? Uh huh. But is it a page-turner? Oh, yes! Adding to the action, Preston and Child manage to keep the tone light and even evoke a few laughs while providing an entertaining adventure, which, in the end is worthy of at least 4 out of 5 stars (and only rated in comparison against their other novels). Preston and Child know how to write well-paced entertaining story and that was certainly the case here. I enjoyed reading The Pharaoh Key

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Grand Central Publishing via Netgalley.
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‘The Pharaoh Key’ begins with Gideon Crew finding out he has only two months to live and that the company he works for has shut down due to the owner, Eli Glinn vanishing. One of Gideon’s co-workers, Manuel Garza talks Gideon into going with him on one last adventure. The Phaistos Disc code is finally broken by the super computer. The two men rush off to decipher the various cryptic clues that may give answers to so many ancient mysteries. All the while.. Gideon figures he has nothing to lose.. as he really doesn’t have much time left.

I can recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys the dynamic duo’s stories! I enjoyed the fast pace, action and of course the historical tidbits! Gideon and Manuel join up with an English geologist woman who gets into a camel buying haggling with the fellows. As they are all heading in roughly the same direction.. the three decide to travel together. Lots of action that will keep the reader in suspense to the end!

I’m not really sure if this is the ending of the series or not.. Somehow.. I have a feeling that Gideon may end up in at least one more adventure.. or not. Hmmm 😊

This is the final installment in the Gideon Crew series and he will either survive this adventure or it will kill him. Fresh off his latest diagnosis that gives him roughly two months to live, Gideon goes by his former employers to find out what happened to the company. Eli Glinn has disappeared and shut down the company abruptly. He runs into Manuel Garza at EES who has been told to clean out his desk. While they are gathering their things, one last computer completes a deciphering task and the boys download the information in hopes it will lead them to treasure. They get the information decoded and set out on one last adventure seeking their fortune.
They nearly drown in a ferryboat accident, are threatened with beheading and hve a whole range of fantastic adventures but do they find treasure???
This was a wonderful finale to a series that was filled with fabulous adventures. This was a very enjoyable read!!!

Gideon Crew has two months to live. His neurosurgeon, Dr. Conrad, points out that he at least knows how much time he has left: “Most of us don’t have that luxury.” Luxury? Seriously? Cue the eye-roll emoji. Conrad continues.

“When Warren Zevon, the rock star, knew he was dying of cancer, someone asked him how he was coping with that knowledge. His reply? Enjoy every sandwich. My advice to you is similar: don’t become miserable and paralyzed with grief and fear. Instead, do something worthwhile and engaging with the time you have left.”

So lean into life instead of sinking into a pity party. Is that it? Gideon steps out into a chilly March day in New York City, feeling none too good. Sure, he has more money than he can spend, but Glinn—his former boss at EES (Effective Engineering Solutions)—has disappeared, and he feels like he’s “without a friend in the world.”

His cell phone dinged and he glanced at it: a text from Manuel Gazra, second in command at EES. It read: Come to the office right away.

Garza. He had long had a difficult relationship with the man, a brilliant engineer who could be both prickly and cold-blooded. But the two had developed a rapport of sorts on their most recent assignment; he’d found that Garza wasn’t quite the ruthless human being he’d assumed.

Even if readers are new to the Gideon Crew saga, Preston and Child do an admirable job of bringing folks up to speed. Garza’s imperative command has a spine-stiffening effect on Gideon Crew. He’s not dead yet—and why did Glinn shut things down? In the words of Samuel Johnson, “Depend upon it sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.” Crew is all in.

Manuel Garza is pissed—he wants to find an elusive treasure, “hinted at in EES’s final case, the long-awaited translation of a centuries-old stone tablet of a previously undiscovered civilization: The Phaistos Disc.” Using a clever sleight of hand, Garza extracts the needed information during a tense meeting in front of Glinn’s computer console.

Crew and Glinn have what they need: destination Hala’ib Triangle, Eastern Desert, Egypt. The contrast between New York City’s meatpacking district and Cairo is visceral.

Gideon gazed out at the waking city, cup of strong Turkish coffee in hand, breathing in the heady scent—car exhaust, dust, and the richness of the Nile itself, which lay like a sheet of blued steel in the distant light. They had taken a suite at the Ritz-Carlton at Gideon’s insistence—he’d banked closed to half a million dollars from his work at EES, and whenever he could he would make damn sure he enjoyed the two months that were left to him, no matter the cost. Garza, a born cheapskate, had grumbled a little but finally relented. It was just one of many disagreements they’d had in the five days since they’d hatched this plan—and getting to Cairo, Gideon knew, was the easy part.

Cyber challenges and inscrutable former bosses are in the rearview mirror. Their new enemies are weather, lack of water, topography, and local bandits and thieves.

When they finally reach their destination, Garza uses his engineering chops in an environment that’s pre-Industrial Revolution (to say the least). He’s like time-traveler Claire of Diana Galbadon’s Outlander series. Claire “knows” how problems are addressed in the 20th century, but how to translate that knowledge into a worthy work-around in post-Culloden Scotland—aye, that’s the trick.

Garza and Crew’s problem: “massive stone blocks moved by the ancient Egyptians” that prevent Crew, Garza, and their companion from getting into a cave that contains “The Pharaoh Key.” The solution is low-tech and ingenious. Trust a think-out-of-the-box engineer! First, hammer wood pegs into the stone. Then, soak the pegs with water.

“What’s this?” said Gideon. “Magic?”

“In a way. The magic of capillary action. The dry wood takes the water in through the capillaries and the pegs swell up. Presto—the rock splits.”

“You’ve gone barmy,” Imogen said.

“Think so? This was a tried-and-true method of splitting rock for hundreds of years, in New England and elsewhere. It’s called water wedging. I estimate it will take two hours, maybe more.”

“Two hours?” Gideon asked, looking at the moon again. “We won’t have any time left for exploration!”

“O ye of little faith.”

The Pharaoh Key marries high-tech chops with a rollicking Raiders of the Lost Ark-style adventure. Refresh your knowledge of Biblical mysteries, suspend your disbelief, and enjoy the treasure hunt.

I received a free Kindle copy of The Pharaoh Key by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child  courtesy of Net Galley  and Grand Central Publishing, the publisher. It was with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and my fiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus pages.

I requested this book as I have read the entire Pendergast series and the first two Gideon Crew books which I found lacking, but thought I would give it another try.

This book was far better than the first two in the series that I read. It was far more engaging and moved at a quick pace. This is a finite series as the main character has a uncurabel medical condition that limited his life span to one year and the year ends with this book. The authors do leave a crack open for a miracle outside of known medicine, but they should leave it alone with this one.

The book can easily be a stand alone without reading the others in the series although some may find that helpful. I recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of the Pendergast series, but don't expect it to meet the high standards the authors have established with it.

A new novel from seasoned authors seemed like a safe bet. It starts out with someone getting the worst possible news about their time left on the planet. Given the what else can happen attitude, he connects with a great friend in search of a mystery treasure that is supposedly hidden deep within a forbidden zone in the Middle Eastern desert.

The usual slimy characters, mysterious and beautiful woman who might be an enemy, or maybe not.
Its a fun read, pretty violent in some places. The story is good, the classic bad guy who is determined to defeat the intruders, the doubtful villagers and the irresistable temptations of treasure.

The ending is more satisfying that I had hoped, and tied up the appropriate loose ends. Parts of the ending are in fact the best part of this book.

I really hated all the killing of animals, goats and camels, so I skipped those parts. Maybe its real, but that was not a good part of the book.

Give this a run around the block if you are a fan of these authors.

The Pharaoh Key picks up Gideon’s story right after his last mission with Effective Engineering Solutions. Two quick twists jump-start the plot: Gideon’s trip to the doctor confirms a prior diagnosis of an inoperable brain disorder and he is given only months to live. And his employer stops payments on his salary and mysteriously closes its doors. A former coworker soon calls him in a panic asking him to meet at EES’s shuttered office, where they discover a computer analysis of a long-lost artifact, one that might hold the key to untold riches. Gideon and Garza decide to take this information for themselves to get a little retribution for their boss cutting them off.

Adventurer Gideon and engineer Garza make an unlikely team, but one that works well in this novel. They banter and step on each other’s toes throughout the novel; they work together, sometimes, and they pull at either end of the rope, all of the time. The deciphered map and their pact takes them to Egypt on a first-rate adventure. The desert trip recipe is followed perfectly: water is lost, a nefarious guide hired, and a Class 5 sand storm is weathered. They also find themselves with a traveling companion that they may or may not be able to trust. It all drives them deeper into the desert and closer to a very good ending that has been hinted as the end of the series.

Yes, the pieces of the plot fall pretty easily into place, sometimes by sleight of hand (Garza is a trained magician), but at it’s heart, the book is a guilty pleasure set in several exotic locales. The Pharaoh Key is a -late-night Jolt Cola and a Tastycake- of an adventure. Perfect for fans of Indianna Jones and Dirk Pitt. I breezed through it and had absolutely no guilt in the morning.

Thank you to NetGalley, Hachette Book Group, Grand Central Publishing, Douglas Preston, and Lincoln Child for the advanced copy for review.

So sad that this was the final book in the Gideon Crew series! As always, a great adventure, action packed with a twist of an ending.

While Gideon Crew isn't my favorite of the authors' franchises (I'm a Pendergast girl), I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Preston & Child take us on a true adventure here. While it's a little bit reminiscent of the sub plots of old cartoons (read it and you'll see what I mean), it's still a lot of fun. I think what kept it from the full five stars is that I knew exactly what was going to happen with Garza's story line. I still liked it, but there were no surprises there.

That being said, this was still a blast of an adventure.

If anything, the read was a little too fast - I was sorry when it was all over.

I still haven't regretted a Preston & Child read and look forward to their next offering!

The Gideon Crew series is Douglas Preston and Lincon Child's other series besides the Pendergast series. I'm much more familiar with the Pendergast series (having read all the books published) while I have only read Beyond the Ice Limit before I read The Pharaoh Key. Still, it's Douglas Preston and Lincon Child and I just love reading anything they write (together or separately).

If you have read Beyond the Ice Limit then you know that Gideon Crew is living on borrowed time. He's dying and there is nothing to do about it. Well, he could go out with a bang while haunting a lost treasure with Manuel Gaza his former coworker at EES (Effective Engineering Solutions that has now shut down by Eli Glinn, its creator). So, off they go to Egypt to find the location that has now been revealed on The Phaistos Disc. And hopefully, survive the journey...

Eli Glinn is hardly in this book, it's Gideon and Gaza (and a fellow traveler that shows up later) and I like Gideon although I found Gaza to be a bit trying in this book. Still, I kind of miss Pendergast. Wouldn't it be great if he showed up in this series?

Storywise is this book not as thrilling as Beyond the Ice Limit. I never really felt truly pulled into the story. Don't take me wrong I enjoy the book, it's good and the pace is even. It's just that it felt so safe. I was never worried about what would happen to Gideon nor Gaza. It felt like "Oh they will be saved in the last minute" all through the book. And, nothing really surprised me, the book just felt ... too safe. I would have loved more suspense, or at least felt the story gripping me more. I liked it, and I want to read more and hopefully, the next book will rock my boat a bit more!